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[0:06] Jay Binder: For theater lovers, the Encores series at City Center has become a beloved annual tradition. Bringing back musicals that we may not know but should be responsible for breathing new life into forgotten works, revealing new dimensions to performers we thought we knew, and offering audiences the chance to see shows that may no longer be economically feasible to mount for full runs.

[0:27] Jay Binder: And casting director Jay Binder has been at the center of it all since it first began in 1994. Now he's telling tales about casting those shows.

[1:08] Mark Peikert: So what was the impetus behind mounting the first Encores season?

[1:14] Jay Binder: The mastermind was the president and CEO of City Center in 1993. And I can't remember when she retired, but Judith Dakin was the driving force, and it was her idea. And she knew Rob Fisher very well from the Coffee Club Orchestra. And so I was called to a meeting by the other person that has been a champion. I was called by Jack Viertel, and we had a meeting in Ted Chapin's office, and it was Judith Dakin, Ted Chapin, Rob Fisher, Jack Viertel, and myself. And Judith explained what she wanted to do. And we all believed in it so strongly. And so eventually it got put together with, as you know, a series of artistic directors. And the first season was really a learning curve. It was really exciting and difficult.

[2:35] Jay Binder: As you know, we started with the wonderful Ira Weitzman from Lincoln Center Theater as the original artistic director.

[2:45] Mark Peikert: What were the shows in that first season?

[2:48] Jay Binder: Well, the plan was Fiorello, which was going to be the first show which opened City Center, which was the first Fiorello H. LaGuardia basically was responsible for having City Center built as a municipal auditorium for the arts. So we opened with Fiorello. And then the next one was Allegro, which was a complete experiment from Rogers and Hammerstein after Carousel. And then, of course, Lady in the Dark. And so Ira hired Walter, and we began to put it together. We had done Fiorello, and Walter and I decided to ask Jerry Zaks to return to the stage. And in those days, there were music stands, tuxedos, gowns, and everybody read from the book. And Jerry Zaks and Phil Bosco and Faith Prince and Donna McKechnie were in it.

It was a great success. Susan Shalhoub was set to direct Allegro, which was the only show that the orchestra was in the pit in all these years. And in those days, they played the dance music, and Susan directed in a sort of documentary style, where there were slides from the original production, and it was interesting, but we were still forming the Encores and the way they're being presented were still being formed. And so it was fascinating, and that was the first show that Christine ever saw into coming back from California to do. And she and Stephen Bogardus and Jonathan Hadari did Allegro. And when we got to Lady in the Dark, we had to find somebody, and so we were weeks away and had no adaptation, we had nothing.

And I called Larry Carpenter, who had assisted Garry Marshall and who was the artistic director of American Stage Festival, and I said, "Can you do this?" And he did. And we got Lady in the Dark onto the stage very nicely. It was that was the first season, but the first season was a real learning curve, and it really wasn't until 1995 when we opened with Call Me Madam with Tyne Daly that really Encores became beloved, and we had a smash hit.

[5:43] Mark Peikert: What was the impetus behind bringing her on for a limited run in this very of its time musical?

[5:53] Jay Binder: Well, first of all, Tyne Daly is a great actress. I mean, you know, Cagney and Lacey made her a star. She had done a concert version of Call Me Madam in London, and I had known about that, and she was very well received. And I said to myself, well, you know, no one has seen her do it in America, and she's gonna be a slam dunk because she can sing it, she can act it, and she is a star, and she brought it all together, and what a star does is leads a company. And when in those days we had five performances only, we had less rehearsal time than we have now. They all held their books. And in Call Me Madam, I would say they held their books about 95% of the time. There were moments when they did not use the book, but they still held them.

Do you know what I mean? And they held them all the way really through Chicago, and Chicago was really the first of the Encores, which was completely Walter's idea from beginning to end. Because the original mission was to do musicals that had been done in the past, that really could not be revived in any way. And she and in 1996. But Walter had an idea. And also we were right past OJ Simpson. Yes. And we were not, and the show was not in competition with Chorus Line. And Walter had the ability to understand how it should be adapted and what could be eliminated, what could be highlighted.

[8:14] Jay Binder: And then we got very lucky in that originally Liza Minnelli, who had done Chicago, you know, when Glenn was ill originally for Fosse, Liza Minnelli was going to play Roxy. And Bebe was always going to play Velma. At the last minute, I got a call from Liza's manager saying she had booked a concert in Florida and had to pull out, which was the luckiest thing that ever happened to Chicago. Not to say that Liza would not have been good, but it would have never transferred, and it would have never, you know, been as surprising. And they would have all come to see Liza. The irony was is that Annie, God love her, hadn't been on stage in a long time. And Annie said the show must go on, and I'll do it. We didn't audition anyone except Mama Morton, because all the people that we offered it to turned it down. And so I had loved May She Rest in Peace again, Marcia Lewis and Marsha came in to audition. We didn't even audition the ensemble. Wow.

[9:37] Jay Binder: And what I did with Annie was I chose the people that I wanted her to meet because I had done Jerome Robbins' Broadway. And so I brought in a group. I had a concept for the ensemble, and I wanted to cast from the youngest, hottest dancer in New York to an older, experienced dancer that had worked for Fosse. It was magic. I will never forget the very first performance with Annie and Bebe and Jimmy Norton and Joel Gray that and Marcia the roof came off City Center. I mean, I've never seen anything like it in my life. And fortunately, Fran and Weissler and Barry Weissler attended, I think the Saturday matinee, if I'm not mistaken. And the rest is history. It's still running. Yes, you know, and it's a phenomenon all over the world.

And you know, we were very lucky the timing was right because of OJ. And also Walter had tempered the cynicism that was very, very off-putting to a lot of people during the original production, because we weren't in that place yet as brilliant as Fosse's original production was. And so we had become a bit more cynical, and we had had a sense of humor about our cynicism in this country, and we had also had OJ, and so it became very relevant. And also, because of William Ivy Long's collaboration with Walter, William created as he had for Nine, a completely contemporary look.

[11:57] Jay Binder: With the Encores series over the years, how many of the conversations regarding principal roles are offers versus auditioning?

[12:06] Jack Viertel: Well, it's very interesting. It all depended on the artistic director. With Walter, in the two years Walter was the artistic director, we did virtually no auditioning whatsoever. Even because the casts were larger, and so in the beginning, the singers sang and the dancers danced just the way they did in old-fashioned musicals. So we only auditioned the singers for Rob Fisher. And we offered the dancers because don't forget, I mean, as far as Call Me Madam, that was the first show that Kathleen Marshall actually choreographed in New York. And you know, Chris Chadman had done Fiorello. So you know, we really didn't audition dancers. We only auditioned singers, and only we only auditioned principals if we were stuck.

[13:10] Jay Binder: When Kathleen, you know, assumed the artistic directorship. Again, you know, Kathleen and Rob Fisher and I would sit down and we would determine who we wanted to offer it to and who we felt would be excellent, and we made the offers. It really wasn't until Jack became our artistic director that, and also by then the productions had really begun to grow. They were really becoming far more fully produced. There, John Lee was doing fantastic suggestive scenery. They were fully costumed. We were out of tuxedos and gowns, and we were into costumes. Everything was fully choreographed. There was a separate singing ensemble, and there was a separate dancing ensemble. The other Encores that was very special for me in so many ways was Promises, Promises, because it involved Neil, and Neil had given me proxy because Neil wanted to make sure that he had approval.

[14:24] Jay Binder: And Kathleen was the artistic director, and Rob Robbie directed and choreographed it. And that collaboration was magical. I had suggested Marty Short because of Goodbye Girl. Robbie wasn't completely sure, but he trusted me. Carrie O'Malley was a terrific fan. Terry Mann played the Fred McMurray part from the film. We were so lucky in that Neil and how David wanted to put back a number for the secretary, and that was cut out of town, and Jennifer Lewis, who I was a huge fan of, and so there's one of the few times when a new number was put into an existing Encores!, and that was a duet between Carrie O'Malley and Jennifer Lewis, which stopped the show, and it also gave us the opportunity to have Jennifer Lewis, and Rob Marshall's work was amazing, and Baranski, listen, Baranski and Marty Short together was in one of the funniest scenes that Neil's ever written was pure magic, and Neil got there late.

He didn't come for rehearsals, but he came, I think the day before dress rehearsal. And we were still long. And Neil said to Robbie, wait a second, I need to cut about 25 minutes from this. So Neil took the script, sat on the steps leading to the mezzanine of City Center, and in about 10 minutes and a red pencil, cut the exact amount of time and handed the script back to Robbie. Wow. Yeah. It was magic. It's a testament to you as well that Baranski did this because she was still in California filming Sybil, right?

[16:45] Jay Binder: Well, you know, I don't remember, but Baranski, listen, here's the thing. I knew Marty and Baranski would say yes without even asking them because of their relationship with Neil. And they loved Neil. Truly loved him. So that was easy. You know, casting that was almost instant.

[17:06] Mark Peikert: What were the hardest Encores! to cast? Because you, as the Encores! series progressed, you came up against some iconic casts from the originals.

[17:19] Jay Binder: I think the one that frightened me, there were several, but Follies directed brilliantly, I must say, by Casey Nicholaw. I mean, brilliantly. And this is after Paper Mill and after the Broadway revival, Casey understood it thoroughly. And it was very difficult because I had so much to live up to, because I had seen the original production of Follies several times. And we were just damn lucky that Victor Garber, we had asked to do it. We waited for Victor for about a month because whether his pilot was going to get picked up. I'll never forget the wait. Do you know what I mean? But you know we were at a studio auditioning, and I got the phone call from Victor's manager saying the pilot's not picked up, he's doing it.

We always knew it was going to be Vicky Clark. We always knew it was going to be Donna, and we always knew it was going to be Michael McGraw. We auditioned for the younger ones. And God love Mark Sandroff. When we got into the older babes, I had had the idea of Mimi Hines because I had originally seen Mimi Hines replace Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl. I called and Casey really didn't know who Mimi Hines was, and so I called Mark Sandroff, who is close to Mimi Hines, and Mark sent me and sent Casey a video of Mimi Hines in Florida very recently doing her club act, God knows where. So Casey took one look at that, and suddenly we had Broadway Baby. Joanne Whirley was a slam dunk. I called, you know, Casey loved the idea, and I called Joanne, and she said, listen, I want to do this, but I want to let you know right now, I do not tap.

So I called Casey. I said, listen, she wants to do it, but she doesn't tap. And he said, don't worry about it. And if you watch on YouTube, Casey's version of Who's That Woman, he does it so brilliantly in the time he had, they're not all on stage all the time, the way they were originally, and the way they have been in every other production. He breaks it up into he starts with everybody, she leaves, he then has certain sections with the people like Dottie Stanley, you know, and you know, and people that could really tap, and he merges them together, and you never are aware that there's not everybody on the stage, and you're never aware that Joanna's left or that she comes back. And so that was part of Casey's genius. It was magical.

[20:41] Jay Binder: I was very, you know excited about Anyone Can Whistle. All it's so funny, so many of these are Casey's shows. Angela Lansbury, not that anyone saw it, if in eight performances, as Arthur Lawrence said, if all the people that claim that they had seen the original Anyone Can Whistle, it would be running today. But Donna Murphy was a no-brainer. Sutton Foster, you know, had done Drowsy for Casey. That was a no-brainer. I had asked Raul to do it, which was a no-brainer. We I made lists for The Henchman and Casey chose who he wanted, the fabulous Edward Hibbert. Other things that were very daunting for me, Grand Hotel was incredibly daunting. Again, I had worked for Tommy Tune on a show that never came in. I loved Tommy. We had done a workshop of Easter Parade, and we had done a show at The Goodman that never came in. The responsibility of Michael Jeter.

[21:54] Mark Peikert: I was going to say that is one of when you talk about coming up against the legacy of iconic performances. That is one of the Tony's performances that is most frequently cited as the greatest of all time.

[22:08] Jay Binder: Well, you know, and you know, David James Carroll, may he rest in peace. I mean, Jane Krakowski, I mean, Lilian Montevecchi, I mean, it was and I Karen Akers, it was an iconic cast of its day. And what I did was we went through a lot of very careful casting for David James Carroll and Brent Barrett's role very carefully, and James Schneider came in and just nailed it out of the park, out of the park. And we had originally cast one Flemtion, and then we had to go to another Flemtion, who turned out to be brilliant, and but the thing I had in my mind from the very beginning was Brandon Uranowitz playing Michael Jeter's role because I knew that Brandon had every single capability and sensibility to play this role, and I knew that he was transformational.

And while he might in real life have been a bit young, Mike Nichols said one thing to me many years ago. I was concerned that Mark Nelson was too young to play opposite Christine Baranski in Rumors, and Mike Nichols said, is he good? I said, he's terrific. He said, Jay, trust me, if he's good, the audience will believe that he's the right age for Christine Baranski, and don't worry about it. So if an actor is really good, the audience will believe whatever the rules that you set are.

[24:32] Jay Binder: And got along and understood Natasha deeply, and they had a great trust with each other. And Natasha was the right answer to play Karen Akers part.

[24:48] Mark Peikert: Well, that's I wanted to, as you're talking about Brandon Uranowitz, I wanted to ask how do you navigate the line between finding the perfect performer who is not a name for an Encores! show versus maybe the show is lesser known. And so in order to maintain momentum with it or draw up interest, you need to turn to someone who's maybe a little bit better known.

[25:12] Jay Binder: Well, we were really lucky, you know, until really, you know, in the mid 2000s, we didn't need names. The series sold itself, and we didn't think about that, and we didn't worry about it. If there, you know, if there was a name that presented themselves as the best choice and they wanted to do it, we did it. You know, but as the theater and the world changed, you know, but the good news is for the most for really the entire series. I've hired and we've hired theater actors because even when we went to more performances and a longer rehearsal period, if you're not a stage actor, you can't do this. This is, as Walter used to say, this is summer stock with the A team. I don't want to forget one of the great, great contributors to the success of this series was David Ives.

David Ives for many years did the concert adaptations. We were also very lucky to be blessed with John Wideman and John Gware and Jack Viertel, but David really was so important to trimming down these musicals, and what was fascinating about each one, the ones that weren't hits, could play like hits because all the excess was cut when we went to do Little Me, which made me very nervous because you know, Sid Caesar playing, you know, seven roles, you know.

[26:59] Jay Binder: Well, obviously, it's Kristen Borrell. Yes, but what I wanted to talk about as well, and you just gave me a perfect segue, so thank you for that. There are a handful of performers that I think of when I think of the best of Encores!, and one of them is Rachel York. And in particular, what I most wanted to discuss with you was the production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Megan Hilty in one of the great musical comedy performances that not enough people saw that should have transferred. But the revelation in that production was Rachel York as Dorothy. It was for my money, it was a no-brainer. And for John Rando's money, it was a no-brainer. John had done a workshop years ago with Rachel.

So he knew her. She came in, she auditioned, and she was absolute dynamite. The irony is that John and Jack weren't really familiar with Megan Hilty. And she was, as far as I was concerned, she was the only person that would be able to not be Marilyn, even though she was playing Marilyn in a way, in Smash, and not be Carol Channing, but create, and so fortunately she wanted to do it.

[28:35] Jay Binder: I called her agent and I said, Would she have lunch? And she had lunch with John Rando and Jack Viertel and myself, and they fell in love, and Megan said yes. And once I knew I had Megan, I had to find the right pairing. I had to find the right woman, and Rachel was the person that could play the second part and not feel that she was the heir in the spare, as it were.

[29:05] Mark Peikert: Yes, yes. What were the other performers that you were most proud to get into these classic shows?

[29:13] Jay Binder: Santino. I mean, Santino in 1776, which I really do want to touch on, to ask Gary Hines to do a modern dress version of 1776 was just a great choice, and it took forever to cast.

[29:32] Mark Peikert: Yeah, it's a big show.

[29:35] Jay Binder: Well, it's a big show, and it's a difficult show, and you know, Gary was only here for a very short amount of time. We did and thank God for technology, we did endless tape auditions, endless, endless, endless. And but we were so incredibly lucky to gather that cast. But Santino, uh and Bryce, Bryce Pinkham. Yes. Every single person in that cast was spot on. And the fact that it worked in modern dress just knocked me over. I was completely surprised.

[30:21] Mark Peikert: I mean, and the fact that John Lee Beatty, another without John Lee, you know, uh, he created Encores, and John Lee's set, um, that was backed with mirrors, The Final Moment, you know, which is usually the scrim bleeding through, and you've got the recreation of the exact, you know, photograph, you know, the exact etching of the signers, which, you know, sends chills up and down your spine. Well, we couldn't do that at Encores, and it was modern dress. But to then reflect them all in that pose in the mirror was even in this day and age, even more effective. I mean, that was one of the great, great joys.

[31:07] Jay Binder: I have one specific show that I want to discuss because I can only imagine how much fun it was to make these asks. And that is the review, Hey Look Me Over, where you got to bring in performers to sing the hell out of a bunch of great 11 o'clock numbers.

[31:24] Mark Peikert: That was a joy.

[31:27] Jay Binder: It was an absolute joy. Uh, and it was it was easy. We just, you know, went through lists, and we just picked the very best people. Uh, and we had the greatest time. And Vanessa's agent called me and said she wants to participate. Uh, you know, and so we added Jamaica, and it was it was challenging and fun, and I think that you know, we in the main were pretty damn successful.

[32:07] Mark Peikert: Well, and the revelation from that show, I think for me and for a lot of people, was Alexander Socha banishing all memories of Bernadette Peters as Mabel Normand.

[32:18] Jay Binder: Well, that's why we got the rights to do Mack and Mabel, because the estates saw that production and they gave us the rights if Alex and Douglas would play it.

[32:29] Mark Peikert: Oh wow, I did not know that.

[32:31] Jay Binder: Yeah, and that was thrilling. So many of these shows on their different levels require smart actors. I mean, Can Can is not, you know, uh a puzzle prize-winning musical by any stretch of the imagination, but Patti LuPone took that part by the scruff in the neck and carried that show in a red dress as if it were the greatest part ever written for a female. I mean, it was amazing.

[33:09] Mark Peikert: All right, Jack Viertel, thank you so much for chatting with us. Having spoken to Jay as much as I have, what I most want to know from you, working with him for so many years at Encores, what is it like to be in an audition room watching Jay Binder work?

[33:25] Jack Viertel: Um, it's uh, he's very intense and uh, and and quite private and and focused while someone is auditioning. And I think sets a good example for other, you know, the deeper we've gone into this modern world, the more people are inclined to be checking their messages and uh until the last minute, and in some cases, even while someone's auditioning, Jay is focused. Jay has got his eyes and his ears entirely on that person who's performing. I think it's partly a professional thing, and I think it's partly a genuine love of performers. And uh, in addition to that, a pure understanding of how difficult it is to audition, how potentially disappointing, or you know, how much you think you didn't do your best job or whatever. Jay is there for the performer.

[34:13] Mark Peikert: Ultimately, how many Encores shows have the two of you worked on together?

[34:18] Jack Viertel: Um, however many.

[34:20] Jay Binder: Well, yeah, I really started 20 years ago. So it would have been uh officially 60 Encores, three uh Summer Stars productions, and a couple of a few galas, but we didn't do the last two Encores this year because of uh COVID-19. So it's something over 60.

[34:40] Mark Peikert: Just a casual 60 productions. Uh, what has your working relationship been like as you assemble these casts?

[34:49] Jack Viertel: Oh, it's been very enjoyable uh and uh very chatty, very lots of the thing about Jay and Encores to me, the essential thing about Jay and Encores, is Jay knows these shows backwards and forwards. And if he doesn't know the show backwards and forwards, he knows eight other shows that were produced during that same season. So in terms of style, in terms of being able to take the audience on a time machine, he's got that. And he knows which performers have that in their bones and which ones really don't, however, wonderful they may be at doing other things. And I think he has as much or more than anyone steered the ship toward keeping our productions in line with the original work. And I don't think there's anyone else who could do that in that way.

[35:41] Jay Binder: Thank you, Jack. I mean, you know, Jay, when someone's going to deliver a certain kind of number, you know, uh, a second act showstopper from 1950, uh, in a way that the 1950 audience would have gone berserk over. And somehow that translates to our audience, and they and they and the same thing happens. Jay, as someone who knows musical theater history as well and as deeply as you do, were there seasons where you suggested shows to Jack? Were the two of you in communication about what the season would be appreciated of?

[36:15] Jack Viertel: Jack has been terrific in that we always discuss Jack between the collaboration between Rob Berman, uh Jack and myself. Jack always calls me and he always confers with Rob. Uh Rob is uh essential because you know it's part of uh the reason that Jack chooses the shows. But once the shows are chosen, Jack and I have very, you know, uh often, you know, have several conversations, uh, throwing back ideas at one another and concepts and what the characters are about and what you know Jack uh wants to achieve, what the director wants to achieve. I mean, you know, and that's the joy of our collaboration. I don't forget Jack and I go way back uh to not only the beginnings of Encores, but we've also done several Broadway shows together. So it's again one of the guiding forces of my career.

[37:15] Jack Viertel: I mean, one of the one of the uh sort of sparked moments in in our collaboration, I think was that Jay called me uh at some point and said, you know, if Patti LuPone wants to do Can Can, we should do Can Can. If she doesn't want to do Can Can, we shouldn't do Can Can. Because it's frankly not a good enough show. Uh, but it will be with her in it. And I thought, well, what a great way to think about something, you know. And so I called Patti's agent and said those very words. I probably took credit for them as well. Um and Patti said she looked, she looked at the score and she said, Yeah, I'd love to do this part. And she tore the place apart because it was just perfect casting in an imperfect show.

[37:58] Mark Peikert: Well, Jack, I wanted to ask, uh, as someone who's worked this many low these many years with Jay, and especially with Encores, which often reveals a different side to a performer than what we might expect from them. Who were the performers that Jay brought in that you thought, I don't know, and then ultimately they blew you away?

[38:17] Jack Viertel: We've we've both that we have a we have a uh we have a slightly private language about that. Uh because there are performers that each of us have not particularly responded to in other circumstances, but the other one has. And so Jay has said, I mean, I I don't feel comfortable naming names, but Jay has said, no, you know, she can really do this. And I've said, I don't know. I didn't like her in such and such way, you know. And and uh it's gone both ways. We've surprised each other in in some ways. Jack taught me the best expression, and I've used it ever since. Uh choose your hill to die on.

[38:56] Jay Binder: Yeah, yeah. There are certain fights that aren't worth winning. Um, and sometimes they've been situations where both of us have felt, well, this isn't really the right performer for this role, but you know, it's not worth fighting. It's not that big a role, or for whatever reason, it's just that we we have we have bigger fish to fry on this show. And that performer has turned out to be fantastic in the show. So um, you know, we've both been geniuses and idiots at the same time.

[39:27] Mark Peikert: Uh well, I think my only other question is is there a show or maybe a handful of shows that you can point to that say this is this is as close to perfect, it's close to a perfect fulfillment of the mission statement of Encores! as we could get.

[39:46] Jack Viertel: I think that Follies was as close to perfection as we can get.

[39:53] Jack Viertel: Anyone Can Whistle.

[39:54] Jack Viertel: I think that I was incredibly proud, as I know you were, of the Superman.

[40:00] Jack Viertel: I think that we were incredibly proud of Little Me.

[40:04] Jay Binder: Yeah, I think that's true. And it but it points to some, you know, the show business expression is casting is everything. But uh I think of it backwards also, which is everything is casting. Choosing a director is casting, choosing designers is casting, and choosing a casting director is casting. So uh, you know, what Jay has brought to this is that absolute commitment to the loyalty to have incandescent performers, but ones who are right for that particular show in that particular era, as I said. And so it's it's it's been that combination. I would mention one other show, which is a show we really put together out of whole cloth, which is called Porter's The New Yorkers, where we didn't really have a star in it.

There were no stars in it. But it was so perfectly cast and so perfectly brought off by John Rando, the director, uh, that uh it lit up an audience, a show they had never heard of, lit up an audience completely. They were on their feet screaming at the end. And uh it's a tribute to knowing exactly who those crazy 1930s heiresses and bootleggers and gangsters are, and being able to find the perfect actors to play them, even though none of them, you know, was someone whose name you would put above a marquee, you know, on a marquee.

[41:28] Jay Binder: Well, all I can say is Jack, I cannot thank you enough for the opportunities that you have given me and the collaboration that we have had. Thank you for taking the chances, and thank you for the trust. And now, you know, we've added a chapter to everything you wanted to know about casting onwards, but we're afraid to cast.

[41:53] Jack Viertel: So the thanks is returned and in double and triple fold because I couldn't have done this without you, and you know I couldn't have done it without you.

[42:01] Jay Binder: And and and likewise. This is Jay Binder, a life in casting, a podcast from RWS Entertainment Group and Binder Casting, in association with the Broadway Podcast Network, starring Jay Binder, hosted by Mark Peikert, produced and directed by Mark Brandon and Kyle Coker, with executive producer Ryan Stana, consulting producers Joe Christopher and Abby Buell, artwork by Justin Swiggs Robertson, marketing concept by Kevin Lau, marketing content by Amy Cannon, edited by Derek Gunther, and a special thanks to guest star Jack Viertel!